CIPA Congress 2015: PIPCU chief interested in expanding to design infringement
The head of a specialised UK police force dedicated to tackling intellectual property crime has said that while its remit does not currently cover design infringement, it may do in the future.
Detective inspector Michael Dodge, head of the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), said that although the unit has not yet been tasked with monitoring design infringement, it is an area that he is interested in and which the unit may expand into in the future.
He was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA) Congress 2015 in London today, October 1.
PIPCU, which is part of the City of London Police, is responsible for monitoring counterfeiting and copyright infringement, primarily online.
Its initiatives include the Infringing Website List, which provides digital advertisers with a list of infringing websites, and Operation Ashiko, designed to disrupt websites that sell counterfeits.
Dodge was describing the work PIPCU has done over the past nine months, including suspending more than 2,000 websites suspected of offering counterfeit goods.
He was asked by a delegate whether PIPCU would also monitor for design infringement, given that a UK law passed last year made infringement of a registered design a criminal offence.
Last year, the UK’s Intellectual Property Act 2014 was signed into law. Under the law, as of October 1, 2014 if a person is found to have intentionally copied a registered design it will be considered a criminal offence and carry a possible prison term.
“It’s not within PIPCU’s remit at the moment but that’s not to say we won’t do that [monitor infringement of designs] in the future. If the UKIPO asked us, we might do,” Dodge said.
“It’s an area I am interested in; there are a lot of grey areas here so it would be good to know what people’s concerns are,” he added.
PIPCU was established in 2013 and was handed £2.5 million ($3.8 million) by the UK Intellectual Property Office. It was given another £3 million earlier this year.
“We want to make the UK a hostile environment in which to commit IP crime,” said Dodge.
He added that there are already signs that PIPCU’s enforcement is having the desired effect.
“People may not be aware that what they are doing is wrong; they may just think they are simply visiting a website. But when they get a knock on their door they realise it’s more serious. When you put the fear into people you see their behaviour change.”
The CIPA Congress 2015 runs from October 1 to 2.
